2018 Summer Placement Send Off

Posted on 23 May 2018 by Stephanie Whitehead

Students doing conservation degrees are expected to complete a summer placement where they work on site or in a museum. Masters students are expected to do a minimum of eight weeks and bachelors students are expected to complete a minimum of four weeks. This provides them with practical hands on experience in a setting outside
Read more

From Archaeological Trenches to Conservation Laboratories

Posted on 4 May 2018 by Rafail Evzonas

I still remember the moment last September when I shook the dust off my clothes in a trench for last time, somewhere in eastern Mediterranean, and packed my suitcases. A journey was begun, this time in a new world: the world of Conservation. Archaeology was my passion. For this reason, I studied Archaeology and took
Read more

A Little Love for Llandaff

Posted on 3 May 2018 by Ekaterina Madrid

This winter, I had the privilege of working with a team of stonemasons and conservators. Coe Stone Ltd. Masonry:  Carving & Conservation  (http://olivercoe-com.stackstaging.com/) were hired on to perform conservation work on Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, and I joined their team for just over one month, over the winter break of my MSc in Conservation Practice at
Read more

Public Speaking for the Terrified Conservator: Children and Teenagers Edition

Posted on 6 March 2018 by Sara Bohuch

Public speaking: the one aspect of life that we are doomed to never get away from. Whether it’s raising your hand in class, or standing in front of a presentation, it is the one academic and professional prospect that is guaranteed to crank up stress levels like no other. Gigantic, mountainous, essay? Not a problem.
Read more

Yo ho ho and a barrel of PEG: Field trip to the Mary Rose

Posted on 27 February 2018 by Sarah Dunn

Henry VIII’s warship, the Mary Rose, sunk in the Solent in 1545 and was left to sleep on the seabed for hundreds of years. In 1982 she was raised and her home since has been Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard. On Wednesday 14th February this was the destination of two minibuses and their cargo of conservation students
Read more

Dissertations Abound

Posted on 22 February 2018 by Stephanie Whitehead

Studying the Effect of Varying Silica Gel Amounts on the Relative Humidity Within a Container. Our dissertation is looking at the relative humidity (RH) changes within storage containers that have different amounts of silica gel within them so that we can see if the amount of silica gel affects the RH. -Will Smith, Mary Lawrence,
Read more

The Significance of Volunteering in the Heritage Sector

Posted on 6 February 2018 by Stephanie Whitehead

Have you ever wandered around a historic landmark and marveled at the landscaping? Or wondered how often those statues in the museum have to be dusted and who does it? Have you ever walked into a small, local museum and noted how few ‘staff’ are present, or asked why it’s only open a few days
Read more

The End of a Journey: Analysis of the Black Friary Glass

Posted on 3 January 2018 by Meredith Sweeney

Following the completion of the physical treatment of the Black Friary stained glass, all thoughts turned to the study and analysis of selected pieces from the collection. I selected a range of pieces to begin to characterize the elemental composition of the glass as well as the designs on the surface. With the help of
Read more

All about Sellotape

Posted on 24 December 2017 by Mandy Garratt

As I sit down to write this blog post, many people will be gathering gifts, wrapping paper, and Sellotape in preparation for the festive period. But as you wrap, or even unwrap your gifts, spare a thought for the self-adhesive clear tape often used to fasten those pretty parcels. Sellotape? Whether we call it Sellotape,
Read more

Preserving and displaying layers of history: The stock certificate nearly destroyed on September 11

Posted on 31 October 2017 by Devin Mattlin

 This post was originally written for the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute. You can find the original post on their blog here. They have kindly given us permission to share the post on our blog as well.   The history behind a single object can often tell many stories. In 2004
Read more